Fake Gravestone ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
I need to make a fake gravestone, any ideas? It could be a vertical gravestone, or just a simple little square flat on the ground, whatever works. Writing a short horror where I need a fake grave with gravestone, including a fake name and born-died years painted or somehow looking like it was engraved on it. I think the real thing would get too expensive, although I do have a friend whose father makes real tombstones so that is a possibility. Alternative I guess I could film with a POV from the backside of a real tombstone so no real people names are seen. Which would be better, a fake tombstone or a real one seen from the back?
 
I just saw good ones at the local arts & crafts store (Michael's). This is the time of year for it.
 
John posted the site BJ Winslow which is a good one. You can rent what you need and they ship them. Since they are made of styrofoam they aren't very heavy. OR you could visit their site, look at the tombstones and make your own from styrofoam...again, as John suggested.
 
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They used Styrofoam gravestones in Batman Returns, they looked great until Danny DeVito bumped some :)
 
I was gonna come in here and pimp Dapper Cadaver. BJ's a friend of mine from school. He does really great work, and has a whole stockpile of premade headstones you can buy or rent. I think I posted my "MTV-style" profile video that I shot about BJ here a couple years ago...
 
We needed a custom gravestone for a scene in 'Afterlife'. We contacted a local monument company that does gravestones. They had one that they'd made a typo on. They were going to break it up and make cornerstones out of it. Instead, they engraved what we wanted on the opposite side. Then they brought it out to the cemetery and set it up, then came back the next day and took it away. And all they wanted in return was a mention in the credits.

Contact your local monument companies. You might get lucky too!
 
Or, as John mentioned, you can do it with Styrofoam and some granite spray paint. Lots of craft sites that show you how to do it nice and easy. Then you'll have a prop for your yard at Halloween for next to nothing..
 
Yeah, the letters are engraved/carved. You could probably use a wood burning tool to get the same effect. Just be careful not to go too deep.
 
Ordered a tombstone from dappercadaver.com, the fallen angel headstone, looks nice. Also placed order today for 1/2 pint brown flattened whiskey sugar (breakaway) glass bottles. Cool. Found a site for fake custom newspaper obituaries, going to order that tomorrow once I write up an obit that fits my storyline. Things coming together. Ordered a camcorder (Canon VIXIA HF100) and cheap ($50) shotgun mic today also. Wrote first draft of horror short short this morning. Pre-production looking good!
 
Yeah, buy cheap buy twice, likely what will happen. The cheap mic did have pretty decent reviews though so I am hopeful. I had a Canon XHA1 camcorder and a Rode NTG-2 mic last year, but filmmaking fizzled due to weather and lack of actors so I sold that equip. That mic was incredible. Going to give it a shot with a cheap camcorder and mic, buy a better mic if needed. "Miami Vice" movie (recent remake) made it clear to me how bad audio can completely ruin a movie, worse audio of any movie I swear, a fiasco, an embarrassment from whomever released the movie for distribution.

Capt Quirk said:
Be careful with those cheap mics, but good luck with your project.
Click to expand...
 
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The chain dollar store "Dollar Tree" has halloween gravestones for a buck. They are dark
and quite realistic. Has letters on the front , but you could customize the back.
 
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